


here then gone again

by likewinning



Series: little beasts [26]
Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-12
Updated: 2015-09-12
Packaged: 2018-04-20 10:36:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4784231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/likewinning/pseuds/likewinning
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Roy's sure Tim has his number; little fucker probably knows more about Roy than Roy knows about himself, but he's also about ninety percent sure that Tim's the last teenager alive who doesn't own a cell phone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	here then gone again

Tim never calls before he stops by. Roy's sure Tim has his number; little fucker probably knows more about Roy than Roy knows about himself, but he's also about ninety percent sure that Tim's the last teenager alive who doesn't own a cell phone.

No, Tim just shows _up_ , assumes Roy's going to be there, that he's going to have time for him. Most of the time he does. Once, Tim came over while he and Dick were halfway through enough coke to affect a rhinoceros. Dick tried to offer him some until Roy crushed Dick's foot under his. "What?" Dick asked. "I was just being polite."

Another time, Tim showed up just as Harley was leaving, her shorts still unbuttoned and her hair half out of her pigtails. That time, Tim didn't even talk to him for the first twenty minutes he was there, just sat on the couch a while until he finally said, "Do you - I didn't think you - you know, with girls."

Roy grinned, kissed his cheek and said, "You're making it more complicated than it is, babe."

Not long after that, Roy wasn't even home when Tim came over. He was out on a job with Dick, tagging along while Dick trained the new kid, and they ran into some trouble that kept him out until late in the evening. He doesn't know how long Tim sat there on the front porch, but it rained, and when Roy came home Tim was soaked with it.

"Jesus, Tim," Roy said. They barely even fucked around; he just sent Tim back with a change of clothes, a t-shirt that was too big for him, a pair of jeans that had shrunk in the wash.

So yeah, Tim just shows up whenever he wants, and sometimes he doesn't even show up for weeks at a time. Roy usually doesn't ask, figures if Tim wanted him to know - and he doesn't really tell Roy _anything_ \- he'd tell him.

But this time, Roy's starting to get a little fidgety. This time, it's been almost a month since he's seen Tim. Roy's done a couple of jobs, but he hasn't left the city, really hasn't gone much of anywhere except when Dick drags him out of the apartment telling him he smells like an agoraphobic hippie, whatever that means.

Truth is, he's getting worried. Worried that Tim did something _stupid_ and got caught, that he's sitting in jail (or, given what Roy's pretty sure about, juvy) somewhere, dead-eyeing the cops.

"I'm sure he's fine," Dick says a few days later, dragging Roy's jeans down to suck him off. "You said he's rich, right?"

"I _think_ he is," Roy says. "I mean, the car he drives is -"

"So if he's locked up, he won't be for long. Little twig like that could probably slip right through the ba -" Dick shuts up when Roy pulls him back by the hair, because Tim just walked in the door. If possible he looks even thinner, his eyes even more blank, and he looks right at Dick and says, "You should leave."

Dick starts to object, but Roy cups Dick's cheek, looks down at him and says, "I'll call you soon, Dickie, all right?"

"Sure," Dick says. "Should I bother to zip you back up?" he asks, and Roy snorts. "Just go, jackass."

Dick starts for the door, but stops next to Tim and says, "You've got some real balls, Timmy. I like that."

Tim doesn't correct him on the nickname, just says, "Thank you," and Dick leaves, laughing.

"So," Roy asks once Tim sits down. "Should I bother asking where you've been?"

Tim shrugs, rolls up his sleeves, and Roy doesn't freak out the way he wants to, the way he will once Tim's not here, just drags Tim onto his lap, kisses his way up Tim's neck and asks, "You trying to compete with my track marks?"

For a while after that, he sees Tim almost every day. Then, he doesn't see him at all.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [pound for pound, blow for blow](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4832951) by [ohmcgee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmcgee/pseuds/ohmcgee)




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